Cardinals defensive end JJ Watt became visibly emotional Sunday after his team’s 26–16 win over the Panthers while fielding questions about a recent health scare.
Watt shocked the NFL world Sunday when just hours before the Carolina game he shared that he dealt with atrial fibrillation earlier in the week. The condition occurs when someone’s heart beats rapidly and irregularly, which eventually could cause a stroke or clot.
In his shocking tweet, he said he decided to share the news because he was informed someone close to him leaked the information and an unnamed publication was going to publish an article on the topic.
“I was assured multiple times from multiple people that there’s nothing else you can do,” Watt said on his heart condition. “You go back and play like normal, it could happen again the next day, it could happen never again in 20 years.”
Watt said his heart was beating weird Wednesday and they “shocked it” back into rhythm Thursday. The 33-year-old is expecting his first child with his wife and began to tear up when discussing what went through his mind as a father during the whole ordeal. Watt shared their son is expected to be born in “a few weeks.”
“For months, we’ve been looking at ultrasounds of our baby boy and they’re all extremely happy,” he said. “And Thursday we were looking at an ultrasound of my heart. It was very tough. But happy to be here.”
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